


Ample Opportunity

by mermaid



Category: White Collar
Genre: Character of Color, Gen, POV Character of Color, POV Male Character, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-23
Updated: 2010-10-23
Packaged: 2017-10-12 20:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermaid/pseuds/mermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working with Peter Burke and Neal Caffrey is an educational experience for junior FBI agent Clinton Jones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ample Opportunity

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Elrhiarhodan's _White Collar_ Promptfest over on Livejournal. The prompt was: **Jones - Ample Opportunity**.  
>  The story contains spoilers for the pilot only; it's set early in Season 1.

Jones wasn't around for the FBI's original hunt for Neal Caffrey - he wasn't even a qualified agent, back then. And Agent Burke caught his famous fugitive so fast, the second time around, that Jones merely witnessed Caffrey being led out of the apartment building after it was all over.

But since Hughes approved the deal to get Caffrey out of prison, Jones has had ample opportunity to watch two masters at work.

***

Caffrey is charm personified: pearly whites and baby blues, topped off with artfully arranged hair or his vintage hat worn at a rakish angle. Jones doesn't approve of him or his crimes, but he can see why Caffrey was so successful as a conman - he radiates sincerity even when he's lying through his teeth.

Jones can't trust him at all...but he can still learn from the guy.

Quantico taught him about tracking suspects, interviewing witnesses, firing weapons, and much more besides. But the academy hadn't really helped with the subtleties of personal interaction: how to read subconscious cues, how to use your own body language for enhanced sincerity or for misdirection, and how to flirt with women. Watching Caffrey in action is highly educational, on all these counts.

***

On the flip side, Jones is also interested in what he can pick up by observing his boss and mentor.

Peter Burke represents pretty much everything that Jones wants to be. He's smart and utterly trustworthy; professional, but not lacking a sense of humor. Highly ethical but not entirely hidebound by Bureau rules, Peter's willing to take risks to get results.

Taking on Caffrey was one hell of a risk, but it seems to be paying off. Their solve rate is way up, although at a cost: Peter's blood pressure has probably also risen since Caffrey joined the team.

People underestimate Peter. They just see a regular-looking middle-aged guy in a cheap suit; having Caffrey to stand beside him only serves to emphasize his ordinariness.

But there's a razor-sharp mind and brilliant instincts hiding behind that bland appearance. Jones loves to see Peter hook suspects and reel them in, only dropping his camouflage when it's too late for his catch to wriggle free.

***

Jones himself knows more than a little about being underestimated: he was a poor black kid who won scholarships to a posh private school and an Ivy League college. He had to constantly fight to win the respect of his peers - and far too often, he failed.

As an adult he's come to terms with this somewhat, realizing that the other students' prejudice and privilege were firmly entrenched and that he'd never had a hope of swaying them.

He's a principled kind of guy; he believes in justice, not revenge. Still, there's one particular reason why Jones volunteered for the White Collar crime unit (God knows it wasn't because women consider his job description to be sexy!).

It just so happens that a whole lot of his snobbier classmates wound up working in high finance. And he's certain that many of them are involved in dirty dealings up to their eyeballs.

It hasn't happened yet, but it's just a matter of time before Jones gets a chance to arrest one of those assholes. In fact, given the current state of Wall Street, he expects to have _ample_ opportunity for sweet, satisfying schadenfreude.


End file.
